November 14, 2005
Bush Poll Amnesia Continues
According to USA Today, appropriately enough, today:
Bush's job approval rating sank to a record low 37%.
Interesting.
We're all well aware of the effects of Bush Derangement Syndrome (h/t: Instapundit), but the media's related and less-widely known Bush Poll Amnesia (BPA) shows no signs of abating.
BPA is indicated by the presentation of the various lows in Bush's approval rating during his presidency as occurring in a vacuum, independent of the other 42 preceding presidential administrations. For example, CNN's headline:
Poll: Bush approval mark at all-time low
This information is breathlessly presented, without providing any context as how Bush might relate to previous administrations, in such a way that the reader might just infer that George W. Bush is the Worst President Ever™.
But according, once again to USA Today on 10/17, that isn't true. As a matter of pure fact, Bush is still tied for have the "best/worst" numbers of any president since 1963:
Every president since 1963 has had approval ratings at one time or another that were lower than Bush's current rating. Those ratings include Lyndon Johnson's 35%, Richard Nixon's 24%, Gerald Ford's 37%, Jimmy Carter's 28%, Ronald Reagan's 35%, the elder George Bush's 29% and Bill Clinton's 37%.
Bush's numbers are on par with those put up by Clinton and Ford, slightly better than Reagan and Johnson's, and are far better than that of Nixon, G.H.W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, but you won't often find that mentioned in most poll-related articles due, apparently, to serious cases of Bush Poll Amnesia.
yanqui:
the matter of bush's poll numbers only have significance *during* the bush administration. yes, historians of the presidency will enjoy their comparative statistical discussions, but it means precious little for the people who are experiencing the bush presidency _right now_.
and in terms of political currency, bush can hardly go to republicans who are fighting tough election battles and say to them, "look man, i'm still more popular than reagan at his nadir, lemme campaign fer ya!" they'll just run away in disgust.
bpa? bush's political aphasia.
Polls always fall under the category of "Lies, D..n Lies, and statistics"
Who does the poll? What outcome do they desire? What group do they poll? What is the leanings of the people paying for the poll? All these things get wrapped up in poll taking.
My wife worked in market research and polling for years and it was always fun to read the polling instructions. What age group to use, male or female, city or country, and most of all what questions to ask and how.
I first became aware of this in the sixties when there was a lot of protesting on campus and the like. A poll was conducted (I don't remember by whom) but they asked questions like.."Should these long haired hippy freaks be allowed to stand on the town square and spew their anti-American venom" One by one by asking question in this fashion they showed that America wanted to do away with every right guaranteed by the Constitution.
Polls can be slanted any way you want them to, so you produce the desired results.
I'll bet if we did it right we could show President bush has a 90+% approval rating.
Posted by: Fish at November 15, 2005 10:33 AM
